Contingency Planning Technical Lead

Salary: €61,531 - €92,296 per year

We are Uisce Éireann. Every day, we are responsible for the delivery of secure, safe, and sustainable water services for the people of Ireland. As Ireland’s national regulated water utility, our vision is a sustainable Ireland where water is respected and protected, for the planet and all the lives it supports.

Our purpose at Uisce Éireann is to rise to the challenge of delivering transformative water services that enable communities to thrive. That means we are proud to take on the responsibility of protecting our water supply and passing on a safe and secure water system to a rapidly growing population and empowering Ireland’s social and economic growth.

We are passionate about empowering our people, enabling them to make a positive impact on communities across Ireland. We are guided by a shared vision and purpose, grounded in values that define who we are and shape how we work, where we deliver for customers and communities, we work better together, we do the right thing, we aim high, and we keep each other safe. Our behaviours define how we interact, communicate, and succeed together. These values and behaviours apply to each one of us, across every role, location, and level.

Our goal is to attract and develop skilled and talented people from diverse backgrounds, who bring a dynamic range of expertise and insights to our work. With a strong, values-driven workforce, we ensure Uisce Éireann can continue advancing Ireland’s water services and meeting the needs of the communities we serve for generations to come.

The Role: 

The Asset Operations functions form the cornerstone of service delivery to customers, protecting the environment and meeting regulatory standards as well as managing the majority of operational expenditure. The Asset Operational Control Function has responsibility for developing, implementing, and managing the activities of key technical teams and infrastructure, which provide expertise and excellence on a national basis in collaboration with, and complementary to, the Regional and Local delivery of routine front-line water and wastewater services.

Reporting to the Operational Continuity and Emergency Planning Manager, the Contingency Planning Technical Lead is responsible for establishing, developing and maintaining operational contingency plans to ensure operational continuity and for supporting in the management of incidents. The role holder is also responsible for providing specialist advice, guidance and training on the effective implementation of operational emergency and contingency plans, processes and procedures throughout Uisce Éireann. The Contingency Planning Technical Lead is responsible for taking a lead role in liaising with key external agencies (e.g. Gardaí, Fire Services etc.) to ensure all operational contingency and emergency plans have been communicated and validated. 

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Responsible for working with internal stakeholders and external agencies to develop and implement operational contingency plans, process and procedures to protect service delivery to our customers
• Responsible for driving, coordinating and performing emergency and contingency planning with the business., Ensuring the business is prepared and practised in such plans to enable Uisce Éireann to continue its ability to deliver to its customers during or after a period of operational service disruption
• Responsible for developing, designing and implementing operational emergency exercises/scenarios for both internal teams and external organisations
• Responsible for providing specialist advice, guidance and training on the effective implementation of emergency and contingency plans, processes and procedures throughout Uisce Éireann, in particular to the Water/Wastewater Asset Operations teams. Also responsible for liaising with key external agencies (e.g. Gardaí, Fire Brigade etc.) to communicate and validate the emergency and contingency plans in place in Uisce Éireann
• Evaluate the readiness of employees/teams to manage major operational emergencies including making recommendations for further training and development
• Ensure that all employees who could potentially be involved in an incident response are informed and trained to effectively run, manage, coordinate or support an incident as required 
• Responsible for taking a strategic role in the event of an incident. 
• Provide support, advice and guidance to the Incident Response Team during an incident
• Develop and implement appropriate plans for the use of the Incident Response team during an incident. Ensure that the required maintenance of emergency equipment has been completed to the required standards and that new technologies are implemented and utilised to aid ter in responding to incidents
• Conduct audits to ensure that plant and equipment is well maintained and fit for purpose to support operational contingency, incident and emergency response plans 
• Liaise with relevant business functions to determine the availability, suitability and adequacy of emergency plant and equipment 
• Required to maintain and continually update one’s knowledge on the application of current relevant legislation, standards, processes and procedures to support this area of work 
• Actively contribute to the development of new policies and procedures within this business area and/or areas that rely on this technical specialism 
• Explain and cascade information on operational contingency planning to a variety of audiences in a manner which can be understood by all recipients 
• Develop and implement change to emergency plans, procedures and systems liaising with key stakeholders on same and supporting the communication of such changes 
• Co-ordinate ongoing reviews of operational emergency plans, procedures and systems to ensure mechanisms are in place to support an emergency event and maintain continuity of service delivery during incidents
• Develop and deliver operational emergency plans, procedures and training, as required, in response to post incident de-briefs and near miss reports. Ensuring that the internal business functions and external stakeholders within the organisation are fully aware of the plans, details, expected roles and responsibilities
• Develop and maintain a contingency planning intranet site, to ensure up to date, accurate information (e.g. all operational emergency and contingency plans) are available to employees at all times 
• Produce timely and detailed reports for the Resilience and Security Manager to inform of potential incidents, near miss incidents and actual incidents 
• Develop and maintain good working relationships with external stakeholders, to ensure effective communications and strong effective partnerships

General Duties and Responsibilities 

• Collaborate with key internal stakeholders across the UÉ business
• Responsible for promoting and delivering health and safety commitments across UÉ and its supply chain, reinforcing positive behaviours and delivering health and safety objectives and requirements to the highest industry standards. 
• Support the delivery of the Uisce Éireann Transformation Programme, driving results required within the Directorate and supporting organisation-wide objectives.
• Other duties as required.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Relevant third level qualification and or accreditation is desirable 
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in the water, utilities or similar industries is desirable and or relevant experience 
• Experience in preparing for and responding to incidents in water services or other relevant industry desirable
• We work better together - Ability to develop and maintain effective strategic partnerships with key stakeholders internally and externally 
• Proven track record with dealing with complex issues, proactively and in a timely fashion along with the ability to communicate complex information to others
• We aim high - Highly motivated individual, working to the highest professional standards and with proven ability to deliver results
• Strong analytical skills and ability to identify and analyse problems and potential improvements, and propose and implement solutions
• Demonstrate adaptability and the ability to change focus and direction in line with business strategy and requirements
• We do the right thing - Proactively identifying new areas of improvement and using newly gained knowledge and skill on the job 

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